"Bastard—how dare you wound Sakura!"
"How dare you mock Ayato-sensei? I'll send you flying!"
"Five days weren't useless! Ayato's five days clearly made us stronger — I'm number one!"
Dozens of shadow clones squawked and swarmed, pressing the attack against Momochi Zabuza.
"Shadow clones, huh? Annoying trick. But you're all too weak!" Zabuza gripped his kunai and cut down clone after clone; a single kick sent a cluster of Narutos flying.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
Zabuza's speed was terrifying and his blows carried crushing weight. Naruto's clones burst one after another. Naruto had indeed grown stronger, but he still couldn't match a jōnin in close combat.
Zabuza didn't intend to waste chakra on ninjutsu — he was conserving energy for Ayato. Though Ayato had wounded him before, with Bai's help this time he intended to finish Ayato for good.
"Mist shinobi… so strong!" Team 7's faces fell. They'd fallen into a dangerous misconception: because Ayato had once casually beaten Zabuza, they thought Zabuza was weak. Now, in real combat, the truth hit them — Zabuza was ferociously powerful. They couldn't even approach him head-on.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, eyes burning. He glanced at Naruto and spoke low, "Listen, you idiot. I'll say this once."
Naruto blinked, puzzled.
Sasuke, eyes never leaving Zabuza, whispered the plan into Naruto's ear. "You keep using clones, then…"
He hated cooperating — especially with Naruto — but solo action wouldn't beat Zabuza. He gritted his teeth and accepted the necessity: cooperate for the win.
Naruto smacked his palm and grinned, eager with hot-blooded bravado. "Alright! Let's do it!"
"Does Sakura know?" Naruto asked.
"That ugly one is smarter than you. She'll find the timing herself," Sasuke said, eyes flicking toward Sakura, who watched Zabuza vigilantly. There wasn't time to explain everything — but Sakura would understand when it mattered.
"You arrogant third-place punk — wait till I beat Zabuza, then I'm coming for you!" Naruto's face reddened with fury at Sasuke's tone.
"Shut up. Now!" Sasuke snapped.
Zabuza was arrogant to the last degree. He'd decided to fight them with taijutsu, convinced there was no need to waste ninjutsu to take down lowly genin. He'd leave chakra for dealing with Ayato.
That overconfidence would cost him.
"Third place, mind your place — I'm the real number one!" Naruto roared, forming hand seals. A thick white smoke blew up around him.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Nearly a hundred Narutos burst forth from the smoke, converging and splitting into trios to swarm Zabuza.
Zabuza's lips twitched in surprise. Blond brat — Naruto — he'd used dozens of clones earlier; now he had nearly a hundred? That chakra pool… it was absurd. Many jōnin couldn't muster a hundred clones; the chakra cost was enormous. Naruto's reserves had to exceed jōnin level.
But numbers alone didn't win against Zabuza.
"Is that a Sharingan brat's plan? Looks like he wants me to use ninjutsu," Zabuza coldly observed, his gaze flicking to Sasuke who watched him with the Sharingan.
"Fine. See my power then!" Zabuza's hands moved fast. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A torrential wall of water slammed up from the bridge like a rising tide. The rushing water cracked the planks, tore up the surface, and surged toward Naruto's clustered clones.
Sakura's face went white as she watched the clones swallowed by the wall. "Naruto!"
Naruto's greatest advantage was his chakra and sheer endurance. Still — Zabuza's tidal assault was a beast.
"First, I eliminate one of you." Zabuza's voice was cold and clinical.
The raging waters condensed into a spiraling whirlpool. Near the base, a dozen of Naruto's shadow clones shaped pale-blue chakra spheres with both hands.
"What is that… Rasengan?" Zabuza's expression changed. He recognized the technique — a legendary move developed by the Fourth Hokage.
How did this brat know the Rasengan? And why didn't he use it before?
Five days. In five days, Ayato taught Naruto the Rasengan? It sounded impossible. No matter how strong Ayato was, turning a genin into a Rasengan user in five days was absurd.
Sasuke's face tightened at the sight of multiple Rasengan-bearing clones. He seethed inwardly: that idiot Naruto had ignored his plan.
Sasuke had planned a coordinated approach: Naruto's clones would draw Zabuza in; Sasuke would slip into a clone and strike from point-blank with Chidori. But Naruto had gone off-script, unleashing Rasengan from clones, wrecking Sasuke's carefully laid scheme.
"Fine," Naruto thought, anger burning. "If you look down on Ayato, I'll show them the guaranteed move he taught me!"
"RASENGAN!"
A dozen clones leapt with spinning blue orbs aimed straight at Zabuza.
Zabuza cursed. Rasengan was dangerous—one hit could severely injure a jōnin. He needed to create distance.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Zabuza slammed his seals again, and three colossal water dragons erupted, coiling, snapping at the approaching Rasengan clones.
The clones hurled their Rasengan straight through the rushing water.
Boom—boom—boom.
The three water dragons chewed through Naruto's clones. The real Naruto was blasted back, slammed into the bridge structure and flew, crashing against a wall.
He coughed, chest burning, and spat a mouthful of crimson blood. "Damn… I can't get close to this guy."
Zabuza moved like a predator. "First, I remove your Rasengan brat."
He slunk into the fog, bloodied intent filling the air. The scene chilled them all — a murderous aura tightened its hold.
"Where? Behind?" Naruto panicked, looking wildly.
"Front!" Zabuza reappeared before Naruto, kunai aimed at his throat.
Even with Rasengan, Naruto was still a kid. The cold kunai blinked silver in the dim fog. Terror trembled through Naruto; his hands shook and a kunai slipped from them.
For the first time he tasted how close death could be.
"NARUTO!" Sakura dashed forward, but she was too slow. Zabuza's move had been instantaneous; too late to block.
A burst of motion.
"Get away!" Sasuke shoved Naruto out of the way, taking the kunai through both palms. Blood poured down his hands. His Sharingan had seen Zabuza first; reflex and timing let him interpose.
"Sasuke?" Naruto froze — he hadn't expected that cold, aloof Sasuke to risk himself for him.
"You idiot — now!" Sasuke snarled, ignoring his pain. He grabbed Zabuza's wrist with deadly grip.
"This brat—" Zabuza scowled and tried to yank free, but Sasuke held on.
"Dare harm Sasuke and die, bastard!" Sakura burst forward, fury in her eyes, and struck Zabuza in the back with a heavy blow.
Zabuza had glanced at Sakura with contempt, thinking she'd merely swing a fist — but Sakura's punch landed with hideous force. Bones in Zabuza's back cracked with sickening sounds.
"How… impossible!" Zabuza retched blood, staggered, and rocketed away like a cannonball — smashing through a ruined wall and disappearing under rubble.
"Wow… Sakura, that was… terrifying." Naruto swallowed hard, staring at the debris where Zabuza had been buried. "Don't piss off Sakura."
Sakura sank to the ground, pale and shaking, sweat beading her forehead as she struggled to breathe. She'd keyed every ounce of chakra into that punch. Her control wasn't perfect yet — all she could manage was one concentrated strike of monstrous strength.
Sasuke barked, "Stupid — don't stand there!"
Naruto tore the breath to make seals. "Rasengan!" Two clones separated from his form to spin the chakra in both hands — the trick Ayato had taught him to stabilize the move.
Zabuza groaned as he forced himself from the rubble, blood pouring, whole body torn open by old wounds. The black coffin had previously shredded him from the inside out; he'd barely survived. He'd come today already wounded.
"You brat…" Zabuza lurched forward, fury bleeding from his glare as his body, covered in fresh and old scars, throbbed. He saw Sakura and flashed with loathing.
"My wounds from Ayato's Black Coffin haven't fully healed. That punch…." Zabuza's entire body split; blood streamed in rivulets. He was a walking crimson ruin.
"You're finished!" Naruto appeared before Zabuza, Rasengan spun to a razor point, aimed for his gut.
Zabuza barely had strength to move. He grabbed Naruto's wrist and countered by forming hand seals.
"Water Release — Water Prison Technique." The surrounding puddles rose and coalesced, forming a dense globe of water that trapped Naruto inside.
Naruto screamed, thrashing, but the water sphere weighed tons — his fingers couldn't move. He was locked.
Sasuke moved at once — but Zabuza raised his voice, choking: "Don't be foolish. One push and I can kill this blond brat!"
He spat hatred at the cowering Sakura, watching with ruthless calculation. If the Rasengan was eliminated, the situation collapsed.
Sakura's face went ashen. She bit her lip hard and blood welled at its corner, shaking as tears pricked her eyes. She stared down at the kunai at her feet — the one Zabuza had tried to drive through Sasuke earlier.
What should she do? Naruto was dear to her; she loved him like family. But Sasuke — he was her teammate, a person she cared about, maybe in ways she didn't yet fully understand. The ultimatum froze her: if she didn't kill Sasuke, Naruto would be killed. If she killed Sasuke, Naruto would live — but at what cost?
Her tears came, slender and hot. "Ayato—" she whispered.
Naruto's face went white inside the water globe; he forced a broken smile at Sakura and painfully raised a thumb, urging her not to obey Zabuza.
"Sakura…" Naruto choked. He tried to look brave for her.
Sakura trembled, heart tearing.
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